Saturday, January 10, 2009

Checking the box...

On sexual orientation.

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When the United States still had the draft for military service, there happened to be a box on the questionnaire one could check regarding the candidate's sexual orientation. A classmate of mine checked it, he later became a woman and looked exactly like Doris Roberts, the actress from "Everybody Loves Raymond". Gosh! What if?

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So anyway, there was just one box. For homosexuality. In saner times, homosexuality was pretty much the only recognized variant in human sexuality that might present a problem in military service, as well as the intelligence service I might add. In the business of espionage it was believed a homosexual could be easily compromised by blackmail. I suppose it would have been the case for the FBI as well, even though it is rumored that Edgar wore cocktail dresses - but you see, that was in private.

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Other than these instances - which were always kept confidential, I have never heard of anyone in government asking people about their sexual orientation until today. I was reading a post on Fr. Blake's blog about how the Brighton City Council is demanding a health care facility to question its residents every 3 months about their sexuality. (These are rather old people BTW.) Anyway, what follows is Fr. Blake's report:

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Brighton and Hove City Council has pulled thousands of pounds worth of funding from a Christian care home because of its religious beliefs on homosexuality.The council withdrew £13,000 of funding when the care home refused the council’s request to ask the elderly Christian residents about their sexual orientation every three months. The home also refused demands from the council that it use images of homosexuals in its promotional literature and show staff a Stonewall presentation on ‘gay rights’. - Read the rest here.

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What possible purpose could such questioning serve? Perhaps there is a concern about discrimination against old homosexuals by health care staff or other residents. I suspect that is simply an exaggerated concern. The laws and protections against the abuse of vulnerable adults are quite adequate without requiring persons to disclose their sexual preferences. Unless of course, staying in the closet is now a crime.

About 10 years ago I was admitted to hospital after breaking my ankle. I was admitted my a lovely nurse who asked me the usual questions about my health, allergies etc, then my religion (which they are not allowed to ask now!) and the asked me about my sexual preferences!! When I asked her what relevance that had to a broken ankle, she said they had to be in a position to meet my needs!!!!!

I said she should worry about my ankle and my husband and four children would worry about anything else

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